California Letter Sheet. Tuolumne Indians

Jeremo, "Captain of the Tuolomne[sic] Indians." Document signed with his mark ("x"), 1 page on a bifolium (10 3/4 x 8 1/2 in.; 273 x 215 mm) on an letter sheet of blue laid paper illustrated with a wood engraving, (4 1/4 x 7 1/4 in.; 108 x 184 mm) captioned "Knight's Ferry, Stanislaus River, San Joaquin County" (Baird 128a), no place [near Rockville, California], 29 August 1854, being the appointment of Ramero to succeed Francisco Solano as "alcalde of the tribe of Tuolomne Indians," signed by the witnesses John and Louis Dent, papered seal in lower right corner; the bifolium mounted on Japanese tissue, some fold tears of which three small ones affect image, some soiling and staining, especially on blank page four with remains of two small red wax seals. Green half-morocco clamshell box, gilt-stamped title on spine.

Justin G. Turner (stamp on fourth page) — Dorothy Sloan auction (consignor not named, October 1994, lot 135)

J.A. Baird, California's Pictorial Letter Sheets, 1849-1869 (1967), see 128a

Native American internal business witnessed by anglos, on a unique California letter sheet.

Sem-Yeto (baptized in 1810 as Francisco Solano), emerged as the chief of the next generation of Suisunes after their population was decimated by a massacre in 1817. In 1835 he and the Suisunes became allied with General Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo (1807-1890), commander of the presidio of San Francisco, and the chief led many expeditions to quell other tribes of the region. At the end of the Bear Flag Revolt in 1846, Vallejo was taken prisoner by the Americans and Chief Solano fled north, only returning to the area in 1850, and dying shortly thereafter in his old village near what is now Rockville. Solano County was named for him at the suggestion of his friend Vallejo.

The present document recognizes the death of Chief Solano and the appointment of a new chief (here called "alcalde") Ramero. The witnesses, the Dents, were brothers-in-law of Ulysses S. Grant, who owned Knight's Ferry from 1849 and who had organized the town. John Dent served as agent for the Native American tribe here referred to as "Tuolomne Indians," a band of the Suisunes, today (since 1924) known as Me-Wuk.

The illustration show the Stanislaus River running across the image in the foreground, with two men looking on at the left. On the far bank is the ferry carrying two men and a horse, while a rider approaches. Several wooden structures are in the background framed by mountains. Baird does not record this issue which has a different caption and gives no publisher, recording only one copy of this image in an institutional collection.